Page 120 of Fall Before Her Throne

I huffed, and then a chuckle escaped my lips, and then within a few seconds, I was full-on laughing. I laughed so hard my ribcage rattled, and I groaned through a smile.

“Is he okay?” Ryu half-whispered to Leona.

Leona raised her eyebrows and grimaced, but I cupped her cheeks and pulled her to me for a quick kiss. She clutched at my elbows, eyes wide when I pulled away.

“I’ve never been better.” I wiped some moisture from my eyes. “Literally. Breakfast sounds great, but first I need a fucking ice bath.”

37

OBI

The next day, after Volpe’s soak in an ice bath and some rest for all of us, we ate lunch together and then reconvened in the living room to discuss next steps. I’d made Nsala soup, a dish from my country that gave the body a medicinal boost. I hoped it would fortify us for the journey ahead.

Greco had shaken us. He’d made a bold move by setting us up—a move I should have seen coming. He’d clearly been at work cultivating his contacts in the States—even manipulating the FBI to come after us. Who else had he ensnared in his trap? And how would he use them against us?

I’d spent the last two nights retooling our strategy against the Camorra. The chessboard was overturned, and a new game had begun. I had to rearrange my own pieces.

“That soup was delicious, Obi,” Leona said as she folded her legs under her on the couch next to me and sipped a cup of tea. “Thank you.”

“I will cook for you always.”

“So how does it feel to be public enemy number one?” Ryuji asked her. “You’re a real criminal now.”

She snorted into the mug. “The FBI was terrified of me, and I relished their fear.”

“Attagirl,” Ryu said, grinning with pride.

“You’re a terrifying figure, baby girl.” Ciel had brought his tablets and laptop into the living room so he could give us updates on the new system. He sat on the ground next to Wynn, backs leaning against the couch. Last night, he’d walked me through the changes, and it was much stronger now, but we couldn’t stay on defense forever. “Now we need the Camorra to think the same.”

How could I use the RICO case against them? How could I undermine Greco and the power he was already amassing?

“So, now what?” Max asked, sitting down next to Caspian. His face was still bruised, but he looked and felt lighter than I’d ever seen him. “Greco has lots of friends in high places. We need friends of our own.”

“I agree,” I said. “He was able to get connected faster than I had prepared. We need to shift our efforts to getting more allies on our side than he has on his. If he’s going to use the FBI to trap us, we need an equally powerful ally to hamstring him.”

“I have a full report on where I’ve been able to track him,” Ciel said. “It’s been difficult, likely because Lucia is obfuscating his trail and kept him off the radar, but one area where he’s been seen is at Max’s old house.”

Max stretched out one arm across the back of the couch. “Fucker stole my house. I’m sure he’s using it as a kind of base, but he can’t be living there full time. It’s too obvious. He has to be staying somewhere more secure.”

“Any ideas?” Wynn asked.

Max looked at me. “Greco needs enough space where his closest capos can be nearby at all times to protect him. But he’s also used to luxury, and won’t stay anywhere less than high-end. Obi, what do you think?”

“I agree with that assessment,” I said. “He will want his needs catered to because he’s used to having staff, but he also needs professionalism and secrecy. He won’t want many people to know he’s there.”

Ciel nodded. “I’ll cross-reference locations that could fit his needs—luxury, security, discretion—with the areas where I’ve already tracked him. Hopefully, I can find a couple of options for where he’s living.”

“We can pay him a bloody visit,” Ryu said. “Maybe assassination is in our future after all.”

“Maybe.” Previously, I hadn’t liked the strategy of assassinating him because of his extensive security. But even if we could get close, the problem would be getting clear once we’d killed him. “But I doubt he’s exposed enough to leave an opening where he could both kill him and escape cleanly.”

“We need to set a trap instead,” Max said. “If he can catch us in one, we can catch him in one.”

“It’ll be difficult to trap him with Lucia on our backs,” Caspian said. “Is she still trying to infiltrate us?”

Ciel sighed. “Yes. Our systems are stronger, so she’s not been able to penetrate our additional security, but I know she’s probing around.”

Leona chewed her lip. “Hmm. What if we could get in touch with her?”